Mount for Revelation 20x100 Binos

[avtaram]

Received my Revelation 20x100 Binos today which I bought off ebay.

Had a quick look through them in daylight (hand held) and I'm very pleased with them.

I'm now looking for a suitable mount, any recommendations please.

My budget is no more than £300.

Avtar

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[mdstuart]

A parallelogram mount would be a good bet but they seem hard to find at reasonable prices.

A sturdy tripod with a video head is alright for viewing up to 45 deg but above that its a pain.

Some use a special gimbal head set up but good ones are expensive..

Or I have a mate who used one of these which worked for him..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/171409373999?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0-L&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108

Mark

[rowan46]

I use this one for my  telescope it is designed for binoculars however http://shop.tecnosky.it/articolo.asp?sessionid=FFC24BED-C7C7-4E47-9BF9-62AFA989B61&getinfo=tkelle&addscore=tkelle&score=

[szymon]

I liked the look of this and am considering it for my (much smaller 15x70) binos...could work for you with the right tripod and a heavy duty head.

http://www.garyseronik.com/?q=node/204

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[FenlandPaul]

This fella arrived yesterday with my Revelation 20x80s: http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Astro-Pro-187-Heavy-Duty-Photographic-Tripod.html

I haven't tried it under dark skies yet, but it feels like a lovely, sturdy tripod that goes very high if needed (I'm just over 6 foot and I think I can observe the zenith, standing in comfort). Seems quite reasonable to me, although I did get it on a bank holiday deal rather than the list price.

Paul

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[Damo636]

An instrument that size really needs a parallelogram mount to get the best from it. Some form of pan/tilt head will suffice to a point ( maybe 50-60° of elevation), but above that, not only will you quickly end up with a very sore neck, the swear jar will also fill up pretty rapidly from cursing at it! The commercially available P- mounts capable of "properly" supporting a 25x100 are expensive, but if you fancy a bit of diy, they are fortunately not that difficult to build.

[Alfian]

This fella arrived yesterday with my Revelation 20x80s: http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Astro-Pro-187-Heavy-Duty-Photographic-Tripod.html

I haven't tried it under dark skies yet, but it feels like a lovely, sturdy tripod that goes very high if needed (I'm just over 6 foot and I think I can observe the zenith, standing in comfort). Seems quite reasonable to me, although I did get it on a bank holiday deal rather than the list price.

Paul

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Thats an interesting tripod/head  Paul - it be interesting to see how you go on with it with the big Revs.

[BinocularSky]

A decent parallelogram is unbeatable, IMO. The best price on the Orion paragon at the moment seems to be Amazon; see here.

Edit: Just noticed it's not in stock for a couple of weeks; if you can source a decent tripod, the P-mount itself, however, is available (here)

[Damo636]

The only problem with the Paragon mount is that it's max load capacity is rated at 5.5lbs......

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&ei=PPMBVKixIoXH0QWdhIGIAg&url=http://www.optcorp.com/pdf/Orion/29397_08-10.pdf&cd=1&ved=0CB8QFjAA&usg=AFQjCNGu0X15cuvXGPY4U799B1tnhtbCDA

Not sure how much the average 25x100 weighs but I'd hazard a guess of at least 10/12 lbs. The Universal Astronomics Uni Mount light has a 12 lbs capacity but unfortunately over budget from the only UK supplier that I'm aware of....

http://www.scsastro.co.uk/catalogue/universal-astronomics-unimount.htm?term=unimount

I imported mine from the states a couple of years ago and even with import duties added, still saved a packet on UK pricing. It might be worth exploring that avenue with a £300 budget?

[avtaram]

The Binoculars I want to mount are 20x100 and weigh 7 lb 10 oz.

Just wondering whether the the Paragon may accomodate an extra couple of pounds.

Avtar

[RichM63]

I looked at a Paragon-Plus mount last week whilst astro shopping, the guy has a pair of 20x80s mounted on it.

Sadly he got a bit miffed when I started taking measurements and sketches.

The mount though felt pretty sturdy although it did state 80mm max. In stock at €159 + delivery from astronome.fr. (mount only).

[BinocularSky]

The Binoculars I want to mount are 20x100 and weigh 7 lb 10 oz.

Just wondering whether the the Paragon may accomodate an extra couple of pounds.

Damo is absolutely correct about the relative merits of the Paragon and the UA offerings (I have a UA T-mount and a Virgo Skymount, which is the precursor of the Paragon). In cost per hour of use, the T-mount has worked out much cheaper!

I have just tried overloading the Virgo with 3.5kg (a tad over 7lb 10oz) of binocular (my 15x70 BA8 plus a 10x50 I'm currently reviewing for a mag - hence "bagged and unidentifiable"). It doesn't balance with the tension bolts slack, but is certainly usable with them tightened up a bit. Even better if I add a bit of weight (some lead flashing I had in the shed) to the counterweight shaft. It's not ideal but, if you are on a limited budget and don't have carpentry skills, it may represent your best option.

I have also tried overloading it more with 9lb of binocular; unusable without the extra weight on the shaft, and struggling with it on the lightweight (Manfrotto 055) tripod. It was a tad better on the beefier 475 tripod, so one of the limiting factors is the tripod, but the mount fork was flexing a bit as well.

Incidentally, I am playing with the idea of modding the Virgo to take a trigger-grip head, so that I'm not limited by the three degrees of freedom of the mount (the T-mount has five, one of which I don't use with binoculars).

HTH

[Moonshane]

presumably a giro mount with the weight bar added and something rigged up to mount the bins on would work ok for this sort of instrument?

[BinocularSky]

presumably a giro mount with the weight bar added and something rigged up to mount the bins on would work ok for this sort of instrument?

Yes, but doesn't give you the height flexibility of a P-mount. If you can live without that....

[avtaram]

Thanks Steve thats very useful information, I really appreciate you taking the time to find that out.

Do you think the tripod that comes with the Paragon is sturdy enough or would I need something a bit heavier.

If it's okay then I will go for the Paragon.

I notice you have one on your website, would I also need an adapter to mount the Binoculars as it says on the SCSastro website.

Avtar

[BinocularSky]

Do you think the tripod that comes with the Paragon is sturdy enough or would I need something a bit heavier.

I don't know as I don't have one. I think Matt2011 does, you could try PMing him and getting his view. He has the actual Paragon as well (mine is the Virgo), so it's probably very worthwhile getting a second opinion, as I bet they are not identical!

I notice you have one on your website, would I also need an adapter to mount the Binoculars as it says on the SCSastro website.

If you are referring to the "shop" on my website, that is just a front for stuff that's sold on Amazon, on which I get a small commission (helps to pay for the cost of maintaining the site); I don't actually have the stuff myself, although it is stuff that I have either used or which people whose opinion I trust have recommended.

Yes, you will need a different adaptor as your bino has a centre-post attachment. I haven't tried it, but you might be able to use a 1/4" Whitworth male-to-male adaptor, which can be had quite inexpensively, rather than the ridiculously priced Orion option. It would also be trivially easy to make one like the "official" one as well. A bit of steel or ali bar, drilled with two 1/4 Whit  clearance holes to match the paragon head, and one 1/4 Whit threaded hole for a captive camera screw like this.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I built my own P-mount, not that hard, and with suitable teflon disks it runs smooth as silk.

Mine was designed for first the BA-1 15x70s and now holds the BA-8. This required altering the counterweights, but no more. I am pretty sure it could hold more, or could be adapted to hold more.

[avtaram]

I built my own P-mount, not that hard, and with suitable teflon disks it runs smooth as silk.

Mine was designed for first the BA-1 15x70s and not holds the BA-8. This required altering the counterweights, but no more. I am pretty sure it could hold more, or could be adapted to hold more.

Thats a very simple yet elegant design, thank you for sharing.

Avtar

[avtaram]

In the end I ordered the Paragon mount from Amazon and a Horizontal Bino Bracket from Astro Boot.

The Horizontal Bracket arrived today so I thought I would try the 20x100 Bins mounted on my Neck Pod.

I wasn't expecting much but I thought It would at least give me a chance to look through them, so I focused on some flood lights that are about 3 to 4 miles away, to my surprise the image was sharp and very steady without any wobble and the whole setup felt surprisingly comfortable.

I have now cancelled the order for the Paragon Mount.

Sitting on an office swivel chair with the Bins mounted on the neck pod is going to give me a lot more flexibility than if the Bins were mounted on a tripod, it's also saved me £212 .

Avtar

[FenlandPaul]

I built my own P-mount, not that hard, and with suitable teflon disks it runs smooth as silk.

Mine was designed for first the BA-1 15x70s and now holds the BA-8. This required altering the counterweights, but no more. I am pretty sure it could hold more, or could be adapted to hold more.

What a beautiful bit of kit. Is that a homemade observing chair in the background too?

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[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

What a beautiful bit of kit. Is that a homemade observing chair in the background too?

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Yes, it is. Details here: http://stargazerslounge.com/topic/147971-a-diy-observing-chair-project-part-deux/

[chops]

Steve, I noticed on 31st Aug you said you were investigating modding your Virgo to add a trigger grip.

I found this article (link to google translated site) in which the chap does just this - he mentions you too, so you may already know of it. useful if not:

http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.astrosurf.com/juliocesar/15X70hd.htm&prev=search

[BinocularSky]

Thanks, Chops. I hadn't seen it.

Haven't got around to it yet; the business end of the Virgo is slightly different to the Paragon, and I want to mount the trigger-grip directly to the mounting block, so it will need a different mod.